If you’re an amateur chamber musician, where can you go to find like-minded practitioners and some tips on how to play better? How about the North Shore? Duluth composer Robert Linnemann says the Woodland Chamber Music Workshop, taking place in Tofte through June 27, welcomes chamber musicians of all ages and skill levels, with coaching from the Gichigami Trio. The Trio will also perform a free concert open to the public tomorrow at 7pm at the Surfside Resort. The workshop is full for this year, but maybe next summer?

If you’re looking for the future of jazz, Pillsbury House Theatre Co-Artistic Producing Director Faye Price says cast your gaze on Minneapolis native and South High alum José James. James, who now resides in Brooklyn, has made an exceedingly favorable impression on jazz critics around the globe, and Faye says he has a magnetic, almost hypnotic presence on stage. James has put out a new CD of standards called “For All We Know,” and he’ll be dipping heavily into that at his Dakota Bar and Grill gig tonight.

Artist and writer Andy Sturdevant was wowed by the latest MCAD show, “AAXI: A Decade of Aesthetic Apparatus, One Year Late.” It features the internationally acclaimed hand-printed posters of the Minneapolis design duo Dan Ibarra and Michael Byzewski, who together make up Aesthetic Apparatus. Andy says the posters blend elements from the last 70 years of design, and the show also displays the tools Ibarra and Byzewski employ in their work. The exhibition is up until June 27 so you have one weekend left to see it.

About the blogger

Chris Roberts is an arts and culture reporter for MPR News. He has worked at Minnesota Public Radio as a reporter, producer and host since 1989. From 1999 to 2003, Roberts created and hosted MPR’s weekly arts program, “Word of Mouth,” hosted The Current’s “The Local Show,” a weekly hour long program devoted to local music.